It has long been known that, when there is an excavation that will be used to support a large structure, it is desirable to cover the excavation face with what is known as a facing panel, often made of concrete or other materials. The facing panel serves both to protect the excavation face and to support the face against accidental discharge of loose dirt, rocks, or other materials from which the soil at the face is composed. Also, fill may be placed between the excavation face and the facing panel so that there will be a smooth and continuous abutment of the facing panel with what might be termed an extended face of the excavation.
In normal practice the facing panels, which can be formed of precast concrete, are formed at or even away from the job site, with the means for connecting them to the facing panel formed as an integral part of their structure. In a somewhat similar manner, connecting means that extends from the excavation face or from a support fixed to that face, also has its connecting means located in fixed position abutting from the excavation face. This is the case when the connecting means that is part of the excavation face is a soldier pile, a soil nail, or such other structure as can be securely fixed to the excavation face.
A problem often arises when it is desired to erect the facing panel with its pre-secured connecting means, to the excavation face, which also has connecting means secured to it. Because the work has been previously performed, it will often be the fact that, because of variations in the excavation face or other abnormalities, the connecting means on the facing panel that serves to hold that panel in position substantially parallel with the excavation face, will not be aligned with the connecting means on the excavation face. Such failure of alignment formerly required removal of at least one of the connecting means and repositioning of it, which was most time-consuming and expensive. Also, since such repositioning was being done in the field, it was found to be difficult to adjust the connecting means to achieve the precise alignment between the fixed support of the excavation and the facing panel.
In order to overcome this misalignment, connecting means were placed under stress to compel their connection, and such stress could ultimately result in material fatigue. As a consequence, the problem has been known that there must be some simple means to adjust misaligned connecting means on a facing panel and the fixed support at an excavation face. In addition, the means must be sturdy and readily adjustable in the field with tools readily available so that misalignment can be immediately corrected and the facing panel and excavation face joined in their desired relationship.
One solution to the problem of misalignment is described in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,594, which is specifically directed to attaching a soldier pile to a facing panel. This solution makes use of T-shaped brackets attached to both the soldier pile and the facing panel, with the cross-piece or top of the T of each bracket flush with the soldier pile and the facing panel. The legs of each T extend toward each other, and a so-called facing plate extends between and connects the extending legs of the T's of the T-shaped brackets. Each bracket has vertical and horizontal slots for providing horizontal and vertical motion.
It has been my experience that the device disclosed in such prior patent has several deficiencies, among which the fact that the only way to vary the distance between the T-shaped bracket of the facing panel and the T-shaped bracket of the soldier pile is by substituting a facing plate of a different length. Thus, a single facing plate may be either too short or too long to bridge a particular distance between the two connecting brackets, and a supply of facing plates of varying lengths must be maintained at the job site, requiring the provision of an inventory. This is not only expensive, but the inventory may be rapidly depleted of facing plates of particular length, and it is rare that a facing plate will ever be of the precise size that is required in order to join the two T-shaped brackets.
It is, therefore, one object of the present invention to provide connecting means between a fixed support on an excavation face and a facing panel which will allow the connecting means on the excavation face and the panel to be held in relation to each other without any need for maintaining an inventory of parts. Expressed otherwise, it is my object to have a single connecting structure that is capable of correcting misalignment between the support and panel, which connecting structure is infinitely variable, so that one structure can correct all the degrees of misalignment normally encountered.
It is another object of the present invention to accomplish the connection of a facing panel to a fixed support of an excavation where the connecting means will be rugged, easily adjustable at the job site, and require only a single point of contact to the fixed support of the excavation face, so that, for example, the connecting means at the excavation face may be a single fixed member, e.g., a soil nail, rather than necessarily being a soldier pile to which multiple points of connection must be utilized.